Hospital bed



C. B. HUTT HOSPITAL BED Aug. 24, 1965 Filed Nov. 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. CLYDE B. HUTT ATTORNEY Aug 1955 c. B. HUTT 3,201,806

HOSPITAL BED Filed Nov. 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. CLYDE B. HUTT 2 j g 7 Z TTORNEY United States Patent 3,201,806 HGSPITAL BED Clyde B. Hutt, 601 E. 22nd, Vancouver, Wash. Filed Nov. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 324,456 1 Claim. (Cl. -62) This invention relates to adjustable hospital beds in which the entire mattress-supporting assembly may be required to be brought into a desired inclined position from normal horizontal position, thus with the head end lowered and the foot end raised or vice versa, as the particular circumstance may require, and also in which it may be desirable to make more or less customary adjustment of the head section or foot section of the mat tress-supporting assembly individually and separately re gardless whether the entire mattress-supporting assembly is in horizontal or inclined position.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a simple and improved bed construction in which the entire mattress-supporting assembly as a whole may easily be tilted in either direction from normal horizontal position and secured in any such position as desired, without interfering with or preventing any other adjusting equipment for the bed.

A related specific object of the invention is to provide an improved adjustable bed construction in which the head section of a mattress-supporting assembly, and the foot section of the same, may be easily adjusted to various customary positions, regardless of whether the entire mattress-supporting assembly at the start is in the usual horizontal position or has been tilted to an inclined position.

Similarly a further specific object of this invention is to provide an adjustable bed construction in which desired individual adjustment of a head section or foot section, or both, of the mattress-supporting assembly may be made and then the entire mattress-supporting assembly tilted in either direction without any relative disturbing of any previous individual adjustment which may have been in either the head or foot sections of the mattresssupporting assembly.

The particular mattress-supporting frame construction and adjusting means with which these objects and incidental advantages are attained with the present invention will be briefly described and explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the bed frame and mattress-supporting frame with portions of the near side rail of the bed frame and the near side rail of the mattresssupporting frame broken away for clarity, showing the mattress-supporting frame in an inclined position and indicating in broken lines additional separate adjusted positions into which the head and foot sections of the mattress-supporting assembly can be moved if desired, the mattress itself being omitted from the drawing;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the bed frame and mattresssupporting assembly, with the mattress-supporting assembly in normal and horizontal position and with the mattress removed;

FIG. 3 is a fore-shortened sectional elevation taken on the line indicated at 33 in FIG. 2 and drawn to a larger scale.

in the drawings the bed main frame or bedstead consists of a head portion or head board and the foot portion or foot board '11 which are rigidly connected by the side rails 12 and 13 as usual. The side rails 12 and 13, .as indicated in FIG. 3, comprise angle iron members having top horizontal flanges and outwardly arranged, downwardly-extending side flanges. The mattress-supporting frame is a rigid integral rectangular frame having angle iron side members 14 and 15 joined by angle iron end members 16 and 17 at the head and foot end respectively. The angle iron frame members which constitute the mattress-supporting frame are arranged so as to have inwardly extending horizontal bottom flanges and outer upwardly extending side flanges.

In the particular construction illustrated thin metal panels 18, 19, 2d and 21 are used as immediate supports for the mattress. Thus panel 18 (FIGS. 2 and 1) supports the head portion of the mattress, panel 19 supports the mid portion of the mattress, and panels 19 and 26 support the leg or foot portion of the mattress. It is to be understood, however, that spring panels, each comprising the usual frame structure with interconnecting spring wires, may be substituted for the thin metal panels, both types of mattress-supporting panels being well known in the art.

In their normal position the four mattress-supporting panels 18, 19, 2t and 21 rest inside the mattress-supporting frame, thus all extending in the same plane as the mattress-supporting frame. However, the head panel 18 is hinged to the side frame members 14 and 15 (as indicated by the hinge pins 18'), so that it may be swung upwardly from the mattress-supporting frame. The panel 20 similary is hinged (as indicated by the hinge pins 211') to enable it to be swung upwardly with respect to the mattress-supporting frame, and the panel 21 is hingedly connected to the panel 21) (as indicated by the hinge connections 21'). Panel 19 is firmly secured to the side frame members 14 and 1S.

A pair of identical, downwardly-extending side plates 14A and 15A (FIGS. 1 and 3) are centrally positioned along the side members 14 and 15 respectively, being welded to the respective side members or formed integral therewith, and extend downwardly from the side members. The side plates are shaped as shown by the side plate 15A in FIG. 1 and have end portions which extend further downwardly.

A transversely extending channel bar 22, shaped as shown in FIG. 3, and thus with a downwardly off-set center portion, has its ends rigidly secured on the side rails 12 and 13 respectively of the main bed frame at the longitudinal center of the side rail. A pair of upright supports 23, rigidly mounted on the ends of the cross bar 22 respectively, support a shaft 24. This shaft extends through circular openings provided in the side plates 14A and 15A and thus this shaft 24 constitutes the pivot shaft for the entire mattress-supporting frame assembly.

A shaft 25 (FIGS. 1 and 3) is rotatably mounted at its ends in a pair of ears 26 mounted on the side rails 12 and 13 respectively, one of these ears being shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. A bell crank 27, secured on the shaft 25, has its lower end pivotally connected to a longitudinally-extending tubular adjusting rod 28. The other end of this adjusting rod 28, which is slidably mounted in a housing 29, is inwardly threaded to receive the externally threaded end of the shaft portion of a hand crank 31, which is rotatably supported in a suitable thrust bearing 30.

A link 32 has one end pivotally attached to an ear 33 secured on the side member 14 on the mattress-supporting frame, and the other end of the link is pivotally attached to the top end of the bell crank 27. An arm 34, portion of which is shown in FIG. 3, is secured on the shaft 25, and a link 32' (FIG. 3), identical to link 32, having one end pivotally attached to an ear 33' on the frame side member 15, has its other end pivotally attached to the arm 32'. As will now be apparent from FIGS. 1 and 3, longitudinal movement of the adjusting rod 28, produced by manual operation of the hand crank 31, will cause the entire mattress-supporting frame assembly to be tilted in one direction or the other on the centrally located supporting pivot shaft 24, depending on the direction in. which the crank 31 is rotated.

A pair of parallel transversely-extending shafts 35 and 36 have their ends rotatably mounted in the respective: downwardly-extending end portions of the side plates. 14A and 15A respectively on the mattress-supporting frame assembly. A hydraulic cylinder 37 has a mounting bracket arm 38 pivotally supported on the transverse shaft 36 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). A piston in this cylinder 37 has a piston rod 39 the outer end of which is pivotally attached to an arm 40 secured on the rotatable shaft 35. A pair of arms 41 and 42 (FIG. 2), secured on the shaft 35 near its ends respectively, are connected by pivotal links 43 and 44 respectively with blocks 43' and 44' respectively secured in the corresponding sides of the mattress-supporting head panel 18.

Thus the delivery of hydraulic fluid behind the piston in the hydraulic cylinder 37, causing the piston rod 39 to move outwardly with respect to the cylinder, will result in the panel 18 being swung up onits hinge mounting in the mattress-supporting frame to some such position as indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 1, and subsequent withdrawal of the hydraulic fluid from the cylinder 37 will return the panel 18 to its normal position in the plane of the mattress-supporting frame.

A second hydraulic cylinder 45, similar to hydraulic cylinder 37 but oppositely positioned, has a supporting bracket arm 46 pivotally mounted on the shaft 35. A piston in this hydraulic cylinder 45 has a piston rod 46 which is pivotally connected to an arm 47 secured on the shaft 36. A pair of arms 43 and 49, secured on the shaft 36 near the opposite ends of the shaft respectively, are connected by links 50 and 51 respectively to blocks 50' and 51' mounted in opposite sides of the mattress supporting panel 29.

Thus the delivery of hydraulic fluid under pressure behind the piston in the cylinder 45, as apparent from FIG. 1, will result in panel 20, and therewith panel 21, being lifted from their normal positions in the mattresssupporting frame to some such position as indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 1, and subsequent withdrawal of the hydraulic fluid from cylinder 45 will cause these two panels to return to their normal position in the plane of the mattress-supporting frame.

Since the hydraulic cylinder 37 and the hydraulic cylinder 45 and the arms and linkage operated by the piston rods of the cylinders are carried entirely by the mattresssupporting frame assembly and have no connection with the side rails 12 and 13, or any other members of the main frame of the bed, it will be obvious now from FIG. 1 that the tilting of the mattress-supporting frame assembly with respect to the main frame of the bed will not interfere with the independent adjusting of the mattress panels on the mattress-supporting frame, and conversely the adjusting of the mattress-supporting panels with respect to the mattress-supporting frame will not be effected by the tilting of the entire mattress-supporting frame assembly with respect to the main frame or bedstead.

The hydraulic cylinders 37 and 45 are connected by suitable flexible tubes (not shown) to a hydraulic fluid assembly comprising a pump, hydraulic reservoir, and suitable valves which, together with a small electric motor for operating the pump, are located in the housing indicated at 52 in FIGS. 1 and 2, this housing being secured at the foot end of the main bed frame and at one side of the frame. The hydraulic pump and valve assembly are not shown in the drawings and need not be described since this portion of the adjustable bed equipment contains nothing new in itself.

I claim:

An adjustable hospital bed assembly consisting of a bedstead having head and foot board portions rigidly connected by a pair of side rails, a cross bar extending centrally across said bedstead and having its ends secured to said side rails respectively, a pair of identical upwardlyextending support members secured on the ends of said cross bar respectively, a main cross shaft mounted in said support members, a rectangular mattress-supporting main frame, a pair of identical side plates centrally secured on the sides of said main frame respectively and extendmg downwardly therefrom, said cross shaft extending centrally through said side plates and providing a central pivotal support for said main frame spaced above said side rails, a transversely extending rock shaft mounted on said side rails, lever means and arm linkage operatively connecting said rock shaft with said main frame and controlling the tilting of said main frame on said cross shaft, an adjusting rod connected with said lever means and rock shaft, a hand crank and screw threaded means operating said adjusting rod, a hinged head section panel and a hinged leg section panel on said main frame, each of said side plates of said main frame having a pair of downwardly-extending end portions, a pair of cross shafts mounted in the downwardly-extending end portions of said side plates respectively, arm linkage connecting said latter mentioned cross shafts with said head section panel and said leg section panel respectively, a pair of reversely positioned hydraulic cylinder assemblies each having its cylinder pivotally mounted on one of said latter mentioned cross shafts and its piston connected with said arm linkage on the other of said latter mentioned cross shafts, whereby said head section panel and said leg section panel may be adjusted independently of the tilting of said main frame on said first mentioned cross shaft.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,263,784 11/41 Peterson 5-68 2,379,080 6/45 Hillenbrand 5-69 2,687,536 8/54 Miller 5-69 3,032,059 5/62 McLeod 5-67 3,149,349 9/64 Nelson 5-66 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

